Valentine's Day
by lyndsied
Summary: Stephanie's blind date stands her up, but she gets saved by a complete stranger. Could it be love or is he just another miss?


Stephanie sat alone at a table for two, amongst a restaurant full of couples donning tuxedos and dresses. She took another sip of water as she watched a table of people who had arrived long after her get up to leave. She opened her purse and retrieved her phone, hoping to see a text from her date saying he was just running a little late. She frowned at the sight of no new messages, finally realizing that she was most likely stood up.

She dialed the phone number of her best friend, the one who had set her up on this date, "Brie, you won't believe what happened," her tone was sarcastic and angry.

"It was love at first sight right?" Brie squealed, "I thought you and Chris would hit it off the second I met him. How was the date?"

Steph rolled her eyes, "Brianna, he stood me up, I got to the restaurant at 6:30 like he said, I've been sitting here the whole time, and no one came," she flagged down the waitress, "hi, can I have a glass of Merlot? Thank you."

"He didn't show? When I see that jerk tomorrow, I swear,"

"I don't even care anymore, I'm just upset that he wasted my time. I'm going to eat, and have a few drinks, and take a cab back to the house. I'll probably see you in an hour."

After the waitress brought her glass of wine, she heard a group of men laughing behind her. She looked up to see five attractive men walk past her towards the front of the restaurant. A few seconds later, one of the men came back and stood beside her table, "I couldn't help but to notice you're by yourself." He paused, "also, I heard you say on the phone that someone stood you up."

She smiled, "my friend sent me on a blind date with one of her coworkers and yes, he stood me up."

He nodded and pulled out the chair across from her, "well my name is Paul, and I would like to be your replacement date tonight." He extended his hand out.

"I'm Stephanie," she blushed as he took her hand and pressed his lips to it, "do you do this every Valentine's Day?" She held her empty wine glass up as the waitress walked by.

"Do what?" He stared at her unknowingly, "you mean weed out women who get stood up and act like the perfect date? No, no I don't do that every Valentine's Day. I've just been stood up before, therefore I know how you felt sitting here alone."

She bit her lip, "it's pretty embarrassing."

"I know," he took a sip of the untouched glass of water in front of him, "so Stephanie, what did you have planned for tonight with that guy?"

"Well we were supposed to eat dinner here, and then go see a movie." She slyly put her phone back in her purse, she had nowhere to be tonight or the next morning, so why not just go with the flow. It couldn't be that bad considering her blind date would have been a total stranger, so what's the difference between the guy who didn't show, and this guy who just decided to sit down in front of her.

"What movie are we going to be seeing tonight?" He adjusted his tie and unbuttoned the very top button of his dress shirt, "what's playing?"

"I don't know," she cleared her throat, "Chris was supposedly going to pick the movie because he wasn't into seeing a chick flick that he assumed I would pick."

"One thing I hate arguing with a significant other about is TV. I have no problem watching a chick flick or some dramatic soap opera on TV as long as my significant other didn't complain about watching sports or an action movie with me."

She stared at him as he took a few drinks of his water, she didn't even know this guy and he already seemed perfect, "do you have a significant other?" She thought of a million ways to ask that without coming off too interested in him, "sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I meant like,"

"No I don't," he grinned and leaned back in his chair, "to be honest, if I did, don't you think I would be with her on Valentine's Day?"

"I suppose you're right," she ate a piece of a free breadstick, "have you read the 50 Shades of Grey books?"

His grin faded into a smirk, "do I look like someone who would read those?"

"Hey, you never know about people sometimes," she swirled the remainder of her wine around in her glass before tipping her head back and finishing it.

"Is that the movie we're going to go see?" He flagged the waitress down, "hi, I would like to buy a bottle of wine for the lady and I, and also, I think she's ready to order dinner."

"You aren't eating?" Her face burned as he kept his eyes on her.

"I just ate, I had a business meeting with a couple people, and on my way out I decided to stop at your table. I'll have a couple glasses of wine with you while you eat, and then we go see that movie."

She smiled, eyeing his tall, muscular frame over. His long, curly blond hair sat all around his shoulders, while his perfectly groomed sideburns formed into a goatee that surrounded his thin, yet seemingly kissable lips. Wait what, she thought to herself, she didn't know this guy, how could she be thinking about how kissable his lips were? She shook herself out of it and ordered a plate of pasta, while her and her newfound friend finished the bottle of wine.

When the waitress came with the check, she reached for her purse as Paul pulled out his wallet, "what are you doing?"

"Are you serious? I should ask you the same, what are you doing?" He was the first to pull out a card, then quickly grabbed the leather check holder from her grasp, "dinner's on me, I thought I was pretty clear about that."

"I didn't realize you were that serious," she once again let her purse fall against the chair, "wait, are you serious about the movie too?"

He looked up from signing his receipt and smiled, "if you want to go see a movie, I'd be more than willing to accompany you," he went back to signing the receipt, "and you can pick whatever movie you want."

There was his first mistake, "any movie I want huh?" An amused expression came across her face. Paul seemed to be quite confident in himself, and she wanted to make it her goal to have him feel awkward, "50 Shades of Grey," she opened her purse and brought out a mirror and red lipstick, "or is that not a 'first-date' type of movie?"

"Are you sure you want to see that? It's not going to be too awkward for you?" He stood up and walked around to her chair to pull it out, "50 Shades of Grey it is," he put his hand on the small of her back and walked her to the front.

He paid for the movie, then the popcorn, candy and soda, and as they made their way into the theater, he noticed she was staring at him intently, "why are you doing this?" Her facial expressions went from curious to puzzled, "honestly, I've been trying to figure you out this whole time. When you and your friends passed me in the restaurant, why did you choose to stay and sit with me? Did you just feel bad for me and wanted to keep me company or something more?"

"To be honest, when I saw you sitting there alone I felt bad for you and wanted to keep you company. You sounded pretty upset when you were on the phone. And plus, I haven't celebrated a Valentine's Day with a woman in a few years."

"I guess my next question is, where is this going? Like, is this supposed to be a one-time thing, we have dinner, enjoy some wine, talk, see a movie and then what? Am I supposed to like you afterward or pretend I never met you?"

He could tell her voice was distressed, like every woman, she was overthinking everything, "I think we should just see where it goes at the end of the night."

She nodded and turned back to the screen, not even noticing when he lifted the armrest between them. When he grabbed her hand from her thigh and intertwined their fingers, she tightened up, "all I know is, I'm kind of glad my real date didn't show up."

"Me too," he rubbed the top of her hand with his thumb, "it's amazing how things work out sometimes."


End file.
